The Brief: The secret weapon against rogue countries

At his first EU summit last week French President Emmanuel Macron signalled that there will be a change of attitude vis-à-vis the EU’s ‘rogue countries’.

On the one hand, he made it clear that, unlike his predecessor, he will speak to their leaders. But on the other hand, he warned that “solitary battles end up in solitude”.

Hungary’s flourishing “illiberal democracy” and Poland’s “systemic threat” to the EU’s democratic foundations are a matter of concern for a founder member state like France.

Even more so than their refusal to relocate migrants from Greece and Italy. Bad apples spread disease after all.

EU leaders have floated the idea that solidarity is not a one-way street, and that EU cohesion funds could be withdrawn from countries that fail to meet EU standards on the rule of law.

But this is easier said than done. At present, the EU legislation doesn’t allow any such linkage.

And changing the legislation is close to impossible, although Merkel and Macron put on a brave face during the summit and said that EU treaty change is not taboo.

So is there a secret weapon against rogue members? The answer is yes.

Some believe that the EU institutions should become tougher and freeze EU funds when they smell corruption.

Reportedly, when it comes to EU funds and Hungary, corruption is commonplace, but the media are unable to report on it.

Hungary has become a mafia state under Viktor Orbán’s rule, says Bálint Magyar, a sociologist and a former education minister.

He says that most newspapers and radio stations are now owned by oligarchs close to Orbán, and state television has become a vehicle for government propaganda. EU money, by the way, is funnelled to those outlets, which is a scandal in itself.

The EU instrument for fighting corruption like this is OLAF. But if we follow reports of its activity, the European Anti-Fraud Office seems to be big on small things, like cigarette smuggling, and small on big things, like EU money being used for political purposes.

But this situation is likely to change, as the EU’s net contributors are upping the pressure to turn off the funding tap for the bloc’s rogue members.

Look out for…

The German parliament votes on whether to recognise same-sex marriage. It’s the last day of the month and the last day of the Maltese Presidency of the EU. They will hand over the baton to Estonia. Before Valletta waves farewell, check out our ‘The Presidency’ video series that we have been publishing over the last six months.

These countries have a right to refuse migrants. It is The major powers that caused this disaster. The need to cleanup their mess not spread it around. Repatriation back to their home countries is the correct move. Had a strong stand been a part of making Libya a failed state the gangs and smugglers could have been controlled. The correct course was to help in the transition so life would be normal. And the former dictator to a comfortable retirement.